Part of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at on 20 March 2025.
Steve Reed
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The situation that the right hon. Gentleman describes is absolutely outrageous, and Members across the House will recognise similar situations in their own areas. We need to completely reset the water sector so that these situations cannot continue, which is why Sir Jon Cunliffe is leading a water commission. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman and other Members are taking the opportunity to feed their experiences and those of their constituents into his call for evidence, and I would be happy to arrange for the right hon. Gentleman to meet an appropriate Minister to discuss his concerns.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
